


Just Another Day

by TouchingOldMagic



Series: Ghostbusters 30 Day Challenge [2]
Category: Ghostbusters (Comics), Ghostbusters - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Oneshot, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24637168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TouchingOldMagic/pseuds/TouchingOldMagic
Summary: Day 2 of the Ghostbusters 30 Day ChallengePrompt: Favorite GhostbusterJust another day at Ray's Occult Books.
Series: Ghostbusters 30 Day Challenge [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779643
Kudos: 8





	Just Another Day

The bell above the door to the bookstore tinkled and Kylie Griffin, sitting behind the counter, barely glanced up from a book that took up almost the entire counter space. "Welcome to Ray's Occult Books. You looking for anything specific?" she asked, after her brief glance identified the customer as female, probably in her late 20's, and harmless looking.

The young woman standing in the doorway had a slightly guilty expression, as if caught going somewhere she wasn't supposed to, but she covered it with an awkward chuckle. "Is that the New York version of 'Can I help you?'" She had a slight accent Kylie couldn't immediately place.

Kylie lifted her head from the tome and gave the customer a closer look, deciding by her tone and eyes that the woman had been trying to be friendly rather than snide. "Pretty much," Kylie replied, shrugging. "Let me know if you have any questions." Then she lowered her head again, focused on her research.

The woman wore a simple dark blue skirt and white blouse, her straight brown hair swinging loose about her shoulders. She drifted about the shop silently, scanning the books on the shelves and the clusters of other occult items Ray kept on display. Kylie kept half an ear out for the sound of anything being lifted from its position on the shelves (unfortunately small shops had to be wary of shoplifters, especially if customers thought there was only one person on duty and that person wasn't paying much attention). But otherwise she let the lady browse.

After a while, a soft cough and then a louder clearing of the throat caused Kylie to lift her head again.

"E-excuse me?" The young woman was staring at a leather-bound book held in her hands. From this angle, Kylie couldn't read the cover but she caught a flash of what looked like gold embossing on the front. The gold seemed to have caught the eye of the brunette as well. "This shouldn't be here," she murmured, almost too low for Kylie to hear. Then her soft voice climbed, turned frantic. "This shouldn't be here. This shouldn't be here!"

Kylie's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "Hey, boss?" she called toward the back room. "You better get out here."

Ray Stantz appeared in the doorway that led to the back, which he used as an office. "What's up?"

Kylie pointed with her pencil eraser in the direction of the young woman. She was now clutching the book with her arms crossed over it, holding it to her chest. Her face had gone expressionless, light brown eyes staring straight ahead at nothing. She was swaying slightly.

"Oh, hey there," Ray said, his voice automatically dropping to the tone of someone speaking to a stray animal. It got easy to spot the signs of someone no longer quite in control of themselves after you'd seen it a few times. Unhurriedly he crossed the floor of the small shop, stopping short of arms length. "Whatcha got there? Can I see it?"

Slowly the woman focused on Ray, blinked once with effort, then held out the book. He gingerly took it from her hands, frowning as he peered at the cover. "That's weird, I thought this was in the back. I didn't put it out here. Especially not here, in the mass market section. This is one of a kind. Kylie, did you?" He held up the book so his store manager could see. The cover had a circular symbol in gold and some text that was in a language she didn’t recognize.

Kylie shook her head. "Haven't seen it before, boss," she said, with a bit of a frown herself. Almost every inch of wall space in the small shop was taken up with book shelves, and most of those shelves ran floor to ceiling. Even so, there weren't many books that Kylie hadn't gotten around to seeing, and she never forgot one when she saw it.

"It wanted to get away," the young woman murmured suddenly, voice subdued and slow, seemingly still in some sort of trance. "It doesn't like you. You won't let it do what it wants."

Ray raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what's that?" he prompted.

"To kill," she said, exhaling the word out on a tired sigh.

Ray and Kylie shared a measured look. "...Maybe I'll just keep this in the safe," Ray said carefully.

"Probably a good idea," his manager agreed.

He disappeared to the back room again, leaving Kylie to keep an eye on the customer. When he emerged, the young brunette was starting to come around. She stared at the book shelves with a confused expression on her face, blinking rapidly. "Um, excuse me. W-what just happened?" she asked, seemingly to either of them.

"Oh, nothing to worry about!" Ray said. "I don't have any equipment here at the moment to cross-check, but it seems to me that you've just experienced a short-term possession from an interdimensional being passing along a message to protect the mortal inhabitants of this dimensional plane. Or possibly a past life experience with the occult intruding on your current life cycle," he explained cheerfully. He reached behind the counter and withdrew a business card and held it out to her. "Most likely nothing to worry about, but if anything happens again, just give us a call."

The young woman looked at Ray in somewhat of a daze, then transferred her questioning gaze to Kylie, who just pressed her lips together and arched an eyebrow, managing to look both unimpressed and sympathetic at once.

"Um, all right, thank you," the young woman said, taking the card and slipping it into her purse. She looked about to say something more but then shook her head slightly and retreated to the front door.

Ray turned to Kylie after the door closed behind the woman. "She seemed nice," he said.


End file.
